A tele/pan camera is a camera that enables telephoto and panoramic prints to be produced from film frame exposures made without the corresponding telephoto and panoramic lenses by coding the film at the time of exposure to identify variations from normal processing to be taken subsequently during printing in order to simulate the same desired effect.
A pseudo telephoto print is one that is made from a central portion of an exposure having the same width-to-length ratio (e.g., 3 1/2:5) as that of the whole exposure recorded by the camera at the time the picture is taken. During the printing process, the frame negative image is masked at upper, lower, left and right marginal zones, leaving the central portion unobscured to be printed with increased magnification for obtaining an enlargement of normal print size. The enlargement has the same width-to-length ratio as that of the non-masked central portion. Thus, in response to coding the film at the time the exposure is made, the central portion of the exposure is magnified at the time of printing beyond the normal magnification for the camera lens employed to take the picture, and the resulting print will have a telephoto or close-up format appearance.
A pseudo panoramic print is one that is made from a narrow portion of an exposure having a greater width-to-length ratio (e.g., 1:3) than that of the original exposure recorded by the camera. During the printing process, the negative frame image is masked at upper and/or lower marginal zones, leaving the narrow portion unobscured. An enlargement is then made of the narrow, non-masked portion to provide a print having the same width-to-length ratio as that of the narrow portion. Thus, in response to coding the film at the time the exposure is made, the field of view is adjusted at the time of printing, to provide a print which has a panoramic or elongate format appearance.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,490,844 discloses a method of making a print of a selected portion of a subject to be photographed. The method comprises the steps of: viewing the subject in the viewfinder of a camera; manually adjusting mechanical masking member visible in the viewfinder to frame a selected portion of the subject; exposing the film in the camera to obtain a latent image of the subject; encoding the exposure on the film with indicia representative of the selected portion of the subject; processing the film to obtain a negative of the latent image of the subject; and sensing the indicia to make a print of the selected portion of the subject from the negative.
When the selected portion of the subject has the same relative position in the viewfinder as a corresponding portion of the exposure, enlargement of the portion in the negative will provide a pseudo telephoto effect similar to the actual telephoto effect provided by a telephoto lens. Thus, a pseudo telephoto print can be made during the printing process from an exposure taken without a telephoto lens.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,357,102 discloses a method of making a pseudo panoramic print from an exposure. According to the method, a window in the viewfinder of a camera has its upper and/or lower marginal zones masked off by an appropriate insert to provide a viewing area with a width-to-length ratio greater than 1:2, and preferably 1:3. Exposures are taken with the viewfinder window partially masked and, during the printing of the negative, the negative image is correspondingly masked to provide a non-masked portion having the same width-to-length ratio as that of the unobscured portion of the viewfinder window. Printing paper with a similar width-to-length ratio is used. Prints can thus be obtained which have a panoramic or elongate format without using a panoramic lens.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,583,831 describes a tele/pan camera having a fixed focus lens viewfinder which employs a liquid crystal display (LCD) masking unit in the viewfinder. The masking unit operates to provide various masking configurations in the finder field, corresponding to the pseudo panoramic and pseudo telephoto settings of the camera for a fixed objective lens setting. The non-masked portion of the viewfinder shows the portion of the full exposure which is identified for subsequent enlarging for a selected pseudo panoramic or pseudo telephoto setting.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,652,104 discloses an improved viewfinder for use with a tele/pan camera employing a viewfinder zoom lens. The viewfinder lens is adjustable to change its angular field of view in correspondence with the picture-taking zoom lens, within the range of the picture-taking lens. The viewfinder is further adjustable to change its field of view to a plurality of telephoto fields narrower than the possible fields of the picture-taking lens. This permits the user to see the pseudo telephoto field of view that will result by subsequent enlargement at greater magnification during printing of the portion of the whole exposed frame which is identified according to the pseudo format setting. Encoding of the exposure frame with the selected pseudo format occurs by code means responsive to adjustment of the viewfinder to a selected pseudo telephoto field.
It is desirable, to provide a viewfinder for a tele/pan camera using fixed focus lenses to provide a more accurate representation of the pseudo field of views suitable for use with a camera having a fixed objective lens.